Magnolias

Magnolias

I have been a fan of magnolias for years, and have two deciduous and one evergreen variety in my yard. The deciduous magnolia is one of the first trees to bloom each year, and usually blooms on bare branches before leaves emerge, which makes the blossoms even more spectacular.

My favorite is a magnolia Campbellii. This one is named “Vulcan’s Forge” for obvious reasons.

The second deciduous magnolia is a magnolia soulangeana commonly known as a “saucer magnolia.”

But these are just two of the many varieties of magnolia. The Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park is known for its collection of magnolias, and I ventured there with my camera a couple of weeks ago to stroll and enjoy them. Here are a few:

First of all, a variety of the soulangeana that has much deeper color on the outside of the petals than mine (but note that the inside of the petal is white).

And here’s what the flower looks like inside – no, I didn’t cut it open, this is how I found it.

And there are “star” magnolias, magnolia stellata. These magnolias have “tepals”. (When both the sepals and the petals are the same shape and color, they care referred to as “tepals.”)

The SF Botanical garden also has a Campbellii. This one is known as the “Darjeeling,” because it was propagated originally from a tree in Darjeeling, India. As you can see, the shape is a little different from that of my “Vulcan’s Forge”

And then there’s a magnolia dawsoniana. This species is native to western Sichuan Province, China. It was introduced to the US in 1908, and named after Jackson T Dawson, the Arboretum’s first propagator. It is distinctive in that as the flowers open, the tepals begin to droop and then hang limply.

I love magnolias because of the textures of their petals/tepals. Here is a closeup of a petal of Magnolia veitcheii.

So now you know why I love magnolias so much!

Mary

Posted 3/18/18 Berkeley

PS: People have asked me about the camera equipment I use. The camera is an Olympus OMD E-M5 Mark II, and the lens for all of these pictures (except of the magnolias in my yard) is an Olympus 14-150 mm M.Zuiko Digital 1:4 – 5.6. Photos of the magnolias in my yard were taken with my iPhone.

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